ROCHESTER — An East Rochester man is facing assault and robbery charges after an incident in February at the Residence Inn that left a man blind in one eye.

Clifford Gagnon, Jr., 24, of 159 Milton Road in East Rochester, was indicted on May 16 on Class A felony charges of first-degree assault and robbery.

The grand jury indictments allege that on Feb. 14, Gagnon struck a man in the face at the Residence Inn, on Milton Road, leaving the victim blind in one eye. Gagnon is also accused of committing the assault in the course of a theft, leading to the robbery charge.

On Feb. 14, the alleged victim, a 49-year-old man who was known to Gagnon, was flown by a DHART helicopter to Maine Medical Center, with serious head injuries, after the assault at the inn. As a result, Rochester police arrested Gagnon on a second-degree assault charge, but this month, a Strafford County grand jury indicted him on a first-degree assault charge, as well as a robbery charge.

During Gagnon’s probable cause hearing in February, at the Rochester Circuit Court, Police Detective Andrew Swanberry testified that the alleged victim had no recollection of the attack, but speculated that the assault happened from behind.

Swanberry said that Gagnon told police that he had walked the heavily intoxicated victim to his hotel room, to make sure he was all right, and then closed the door to the room. Then, “almost instantaneously,” Gagnon said he heard yelling, and after returning to the victim’s room, he found the 49-year-old man injured in a pool of blood.

A witness to the incident, however, reported hearing three loud “thumps” from the victim’s room, and then seeing Gagnon come out of that room and close the door.

Another witness reported hearing Gagnon say words to the effect, “(The victim) got jumped and it looks like I did it,” Swanberry testified.

According to a police affidavit, Gagnon was also asking the tenants of the Residence Inn to call for help because the victim got “jacked up.”

Gagnon is currently being held at Strafford County jail on $25,000 cash bail. His arraignment and bail hearing has been scheduled for Thursday, at 9 a.m., at the Strafford County Superior Court.If convicted of both the robbery and first-degree assault charges, Gagnon could face a maximum of 15 to 30 years in state prison and an $8,000 fine.As part of his bail conditions, Gagnon is prohibited from entering Residence Inn, or having any contact with the alleged victim.

An indictment is not an indication of guilt; rather, it means a jury found sufficient evidence to warrant a trial.